The amount of data stored continues to grow. Thus, data storage devices continue to evolve and proliferate. While new devices with new and different capabilities have become available, a significant amount of data still is and likely will continue to be stored using the linear tape file system (LTFS). Data may be stored using the LTFS on actual physical tapes or on virtual tapes.
LTFS refers to both the format of data recorded on physical or virtual magnetic tapes and to software that uses the format to provide a file system interface to data stored on the physical or virtual magnetic tapes. The LTFS format is a self-describing tape format associated with tape archives. The LTFS format defines the organization of data and metadata. In LTFS, files are stored in a hierarchical directory structure. LTFS allows direct access to file content and file metadata. LTFS facilitates presenting a standard file system view of the data stored in the physical or virtual tape media. This file system view makes accessing files stored on the LTFS formatted media similar to accessing files stored on other forms of storage media (e.g., spinning disks, flash drives, solid state drives (SSD)). The LTFS format includes an open description of the layout of data-structures stored on a sequential-access media. These data-structures hold the file content data and associated file metadata. Data media (e.g., LTO data tape) written using LTFS can be exchanged between systems that use the LTFS format.
One type of data storage that is becoming increasingly popular is “cloud storage.” Cloud storage refers to a data storage model where digital data is stored in logical pools. The actual physical storage used to store the logical pools may span multiple devices (e.g., servers) and may include different types of storage devices. One of the purported attractions of cloud storage is that users are supposed to be able to decouple from any specific data storage hardware. The physical environment (e.g., collection of storage devices, servers) may be owned and managed by a hosting company. A hosting company that provides cloud storage is responsible for data availability, accessibility, and security. Conventionally, moving data from LTFS based storage to cloud based storage may have been inefficient and difficult to administer and may have interrupted or otherwise burdened file systems or applications that were interacting with the LTFS-based storage.